Hiding From Herself
by racegirl17
Summary: Echo Park is a family's chance at a fresh start, but what will happen to them when they find out you cannot hide from who you are.
1. Change of Scenery

**Author: **RaceGirl17

**Title: **Hiding from Herself

**Rating: **M for later chapters

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the characters from TFTF, nor am I am amking any money from this. I am borrowing them for my own games. All characters that were not in the movie belong to me (They wanted to play too. It remains to be seen if they play well with others.)

**Summary: **Echo Park is a family's chance at a fresh start, but what will happened to them when they find out you cannot hide from how you are.

**Feedback:** Please this is my first ever fanfic and would love to know what you think.

**Pairing: **Dom/Letty, Vince/ OFC

**Author's Note:** I had started this fic a couple of years ago on another site. I decided to move it here and continue with it.

**Chapter One – Change of Scenery**

Rylie slowly rolled over and stretched. Opening her eyes she smiled at the little boy standing next to her bed.

"Did you have a good day at school, Revlin?"

The little boy stared at her with solemn eyes and nodded his head up and down.

"That is good, sweetie." Rylie always hoped that her brother would tell her about his day, but all he ever did was nod. He had spoken very little in the three months since their mother had died.

Rylie was hoping that their new home and his new school would help him move on. Echo Park was a chance for their family to start over, a place where no one knew about their past. Rylie knew that it was not going to be easy, but she hoped that it would be better.

"Lets get a snack." Rylie told the little boy as she slipped out of bed. Reaching down she took his hand and led him downstairs. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Rylie poked her head into the living room.

"Hey, Ronin, do you want a cookie?"

The three-year-old looked up from the television, a big smile on his face.

"Chocowit chip?"

"Of course." Rylie smiled back at him.

Ronin dashed past his brother and sister and into the kitchen. He was climbing on to a chair when they entered the room. Revlin quietly sat down next to his brother. Rylie placed a plate of cookies in front of the boys. Reaching into the fridge for the milk, she found an empty shelf.

"Reminton Leigh!" Rylie yelled. When there was no response she walked out of the kitchen and yelled up the stairs again.

"What!" the teenager replied coming down the stairs.

"I only asked you to do two things today; pick up the boys and stop at the store for a gallon of milk. The boys are in the kitchen but the milk isn't."

"I forgot the milk. I am sorry, but you could have gone to the store instead of laying around in bed all afternoon." Remi snarled.

"I start my new job tonight. I need your help Remi; I can't do this by myself We have to do this together. This job is good money, money we need."

"You made good money before, easy money. We had money for things. We had a good life and you took it away. I hate it here and I hate you!" Remi stormed up the stairs.

As Rylie turned to go beck into the kitchen she heard Remi's bedroom door slam shut. Sighing she poured the boys juice. She tried to reassure herself that every 17-year-old hated their parents. Remi didn't have any parents so she hated the closest thing she did have, Rylie.

The rest of the evening went quickly. Rylie spent time with the boys. Remi refused to leave her room. Rylie made the boys dinner, too nervous about her job to eat much.

Leaving the boys to watch the Lion King, she got ready. Part of her was glad she didn't have to wear a uniform, but the other part was scared that she would wear the wrong thing. Finally she settled on flare jeans and a black baby tee. She completed the outfit with her favorite black boots. She kept her make up simple, doubting she would have time to take it off before she dropped Revlin off at school.

She tucked both boys into bed, before grabbing her leather jacket and purse. She stood outside Remi's door, unsure of what to do. Finally she knocked softly.

"The boys are tucked in. I left the number of the club on the fridge if you have any problems. Good night." She waited for Remi's response, when none came, she left.

Locking the front door behind her, Rylie walked up to her car. She slipped behind the wheel and started the engine. She groaned as she let the car idle. The little Chevy was nothing like the Mazda she used to drive. Her midnight black RX7 had been a graduation present from her step father. He had had the car customized especially for her. That car easily beat anything it went up against. Remi was right that had been good money, easy money. It had supported them after their stepfather died and their mother couldn't. When their mother had died the money simply hadn't been enough to pay all of the debts. There had been two mortgages on the house, the medical bills, the cost of the funeral, and then supporting them four of them. Rylie had tried to keep them a float but when the life insurance company refused to pay out, the bills became to much. She used every dime she had to settle the bills. The bank had taken the house. To be hones she didn't miss it, that house had stopped being home years ago. Her beautiful car had provided the down payments on their new house and the Chevy.

Slamming the car into gear Rylie glanced into her rearview mirror. The house across the street caught her attention. Several high performance cars were parked in the driveway. "Great," Rylie thought to herself. "I had to buy the house across from racing central." Pulling out of the driveway she cursed under her breath. "Echo Park is the place to be if you are a street racer after all. I knew that, part of why I chose this neighborhood." She had never actually attended a street race in Echo Park, her car may have been that good, but she wasn't. There was good money to be made even in the smaller circles. Movin here had seemed like a good way to stay close to the action, but she wasn't sure that she could stay away. Speeding down the street she cranked the car's stereo, wondering how her first night would go.


	2. The New Job

**Chapter Two – The New Job**

Rylie eased her car into a parking space behind the club. Taking a deep breath she slipped out of her car and headed toward the back door. The lot beside El Gato Negro was fairly empty, but it was still early. Rylie knew that the club would be packed later. This was the club to be at in Echo Park, it was where everyone that was somebody went.

"Hey chica," a gorgeous Latina woman greeted Rylie as she slipped in the back. "Are you ready for your first night?" 

"As ready as I will ever bee," Rylie replied with a nervous smile. Carmen owned the club with her brother, and had been the one to hire Rylie. The two had hit it off when Rylie had come in to apply for the job.

"You will do fine; now let's get you settled in."

Carmen showed Rylie around the club, introducing her to people as they went. The tour ended when they got to the bar where Rylie would be working. Carmen was just finishing explaining how everything worked when a bald Latino approached the bar.

"This the new bartender?" the man asked as he leaned against the bar.

"Yes," Carmen replied turning to face the man. "Hector, I would like you to meet Rylie McCallister. Rylie, this is my brother, Hector.'

Hector smiled at Rylie, "Nice to meet you, hope you like it here. We get busy a lot of nights so you should make good tips, though you may be a little over dressed for some of the guys."

"Hector!" Carmen yelled, clearly dismayed by her brother's comment.

"I was just warning her, Carm. Some of the wannabe racers are only interested in one thing."

Carmen rolled her eyes at her brother's statement as she turned back to Rylie. "Wear whatever makes you comfortable. If you want to wear baby tees go for it, if you wanna wear something more revealing that is fine too. Just try to cover more then the racer chasers and I won't have to fire ya.

The siblings soon left Rylie behind the bar with the other two bartenders. The club was starting to fill up. Rylie found herself busy mixing drinks and handing out beers. Seemed that everyone in the club was a racer or a wannabe. Rylie overheard a lot of conversations about engines and nos over the pounding music. Hector was also right about the tips. She was making good tips, especially from the guys flashing money to impress skanks. That is what she would call a lot of the women in the club. Apparently every race scene had them.

It was getting close to last call when a blonde kid stepped up to the bar. He didn't look old enough to be out of high school, let alone in a bar. He stared at her a moment with haunted blue eyes. He smiled at her, "I need Coronas," he slurred holding on to the bar.

"Well we have lots of them, how many do you need?" Rylie seriously doubted that he should have one more beer, but he apparently thought he needed more then one.

"Um," the kid seemed to be trying to think. "Um, there are a lot of us. And we like Corona a lot. How about ten?"

Rylie reached down and slid back the cooler lid. As she began pulling out bottles of Corona, she noticed the blonde kid start talking to the woman next to him. Rylie smiled to herself, marveling at how quickly the kid had been distracted.

"Jess, where are the Corona's man?"

Looking up, Rylie's breath caught for a moment as she watched the kid turn toward the man that had come to stand beside him at the bar. The man was definitely good-looking, muscular frame, messy hair, and piercing blue eyes. But there was something more that had made her heart speed up slightly, after all the club was full of good-looking men. He had this confident aura that said he could handle anything life threw at him.

"Ten was it?" Rylie asked, knowing that was what the kid had said, but she wanted to make sure. Or at least that is the reason she would tell herself later, it couldn't possibly be that she wanted the guy to stay a little longer or to hear him talk again.

"Ten! Jesse, what are six people going to do with ten beers, bro?" The guy asked turning to look at the kid, who was now looking at the floor.

"Sorry, V, I forgot how many we needed."

Rylie felt bad for the kid. Something about how he stood there looking so unsure of himself seemed eerily familiar. It was the same look Revlin got whenever she tried to get him to talk to her. Her stomach clenched slightly, momentarily scared that this may be a glimpse of her family's future.

"Sure ya forgot, bro." The bigger man replied as he pulled the kid toward him in a half wrestling move, half hug motion. "You just wanted the extra beer for yourself."

Rylie couldn't help but smile at the scene before her. She didn't see a family resemblance, but they definitely acted like brothers. Not that family resemblance really mattered. Her young brothers looked very little like Remi or her. Besides she had learned long ago that sharing DNA did not make people family.

Piercing blue eyes caught her gaze. Smiling he replied, "We only need six."

Slipping four bottles back into the cooler, Rylie opened the other six and slid them across the bar. Jesse grabbed three of them and headed off to rejoin his group. Laughing the man handed her a credit card. As she processed the card she glanced at the name, Vincent Calineti. So tall, dark, and handsome had a name. She smiled at him as she handed back his card and the slip to sign. Quickly scrawling his name on the slip, Vincent grabbed the remaining beers before disappearing in the direction Jesse had gone. Rylie let her eyes linger on his disappearing figure another minute before turning her attention to the next customer.

The remaining hour of the night went by uneventfully. Much to her dismay, Vincent didn't need anything else and had not returned to the bar. Carmen approached her as she was helping take inventory and restock after the club closed.

"Well chica, how was your first night? Think you are going to like it here?"

"I loved it. I could definitely stick around. Besides I made good tips even if I am not showing off a lot of skin." Rylie laughed.

She had enjoyed herself; she even liked the fact that the club was full of racers. There was only once or twice that she had wished for a moment that she could be a part of the scene. A couple of the racer wannabes had been talking about the king of the streets. It seemed around here Dominic Torretto and his red chariot was something to both fear and worship. Rylie knew she would be no match for the mighty king, but she couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to race him.

She snapped out of her thoughts when Carmen shoved a fifty-dollar bill at her. Puzzled she took the money from her boss.

"You certainly made quite the impression on one of Hector's friends. He told me to give this to you."

Rylie was stunned, she couldn't imagine who she had impressed that much. She quickly slipped the bill into her pocket. Gathering up her purse and leather jacket, she headed to her car.

She had to have made close to $300 in tips that night. Rylie couldn't imagine what a Friday or Saturday night would be like. "This is pretty easy money too," she thought smiling to herself as she drove toward her house. "And it comes with some pretty nice scenery too," she thought as an image of Vincent came to mind.

She had been fascinated by the way his intricate tattoo had moved as he signed the receipt. Rylie wondered how he had gotten the faint scar that wound up his arm.

"Keep this up girl and you are going to need a cold shower." She scolded herself as she turned on to her street.


End file.
